The Sunken Tomb | Critical Role: VOX MACHINA | Episode 44 

Purvon: My name is Purvon. Raven Queen: I'm not calling you that.

“Wait we can talk in mist form?” “Uh... sure. At this point I don’t give a shit.” Y’all are BREAKING him

Vex: One! Scanlan: Instant death Matt: *Funny you should mention that*

For those coming from The Legend of Vox Machina, the time stamp you're after is 4:23:24

Also Travis’s face “I’m playing a smart character next time so I don’t have to watch these monkeys come up with the worst plans ever.”

The book salesman that got Vex to pay full price, I feel like he must've gained 2 levels out of that

32:23 "He was named Purvan-" _giggles and jokes from the entire cast_ *6 years later, EXU Calamity* "Announcing the champion of the Matron of Ravens: Purvan Suul!" "SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN!!!"

Sam jokes about "Dead! Instant death!" but you can see Matt biting his lip.

That beholder was originally going to be just another fishmonster...but then the party decided to make fun of Purvon's name.

Vax: "Hm, my ears feel really hot this morning, I don't know why that is". Percy: "I've been breathing on them". Vax: "... What?"

Percy: *The smartest, most reasonable, most eloquent, and most practical character at the table* Also Percy:

Vex after losing that 30 gold: I may never financially recover from this.

wonder if pre-stream vex ever said "If i ever pay full price, it will be the day i die"

"Sorry, I don't speak fish." I love Percy's one-liners.

The question "Does that bring you below 0?" after taking a bunch of Necrotic damage is potentially the scariest question a DM could ask.

Matt: “You see a tall set of double doors.” Scanlan: “doors..” I felt the angry eyes.

Mary shows up for 2 adventures kills a dragon and a beholder...

Grog "killing" Vax is one of the funniest things I have yet seen in this series. Travis's acting just sells it so hard.

Poor Kashaw. He kisses one druid once, and then her maybe lover is hitting on him, his twin sister is plotting his death, a gnome is trying to hook him up with the druids maybe lover, like this poor man is just trying to take care of his best friend and he's just having to deal with a bunch of dumbasses because she's too good.

Grog being so upset when he thought he killed Vax and the being so relieved when he found him alive was kind of sweet

Matt: The group is getting a bit too powerful... I think I'm going to bring in 4 Ancient Dragons, another Beholder, and literal death traps... Should go well.

"Roll a Perception check, with disadvantage" - "oh nice, that's a 31... no wait 41" "Whut?!" - "71! 124!" Matt: "You see through reality" That made me spit my drink through my nose! 😆

From someone down below the deep ocean. Bringing it back to the surface. 07:52 - Shout out to Waze 08:48 - Recap 11:18 - Grog kicks things off 14:31 - Percy's unknown foreshadowing 16:37 - Kima meets Zahra and Kashaw 17:14 - No one knows what the hell is happening 19:50 - Insight Check 21:28 - If we could all live in Grog's world 23:58 - This is what happens when Vox Machina tries to research 26:42 - Vex has met her match 31:58 - Purvan (32:23 for the reaction) 34:36 - Do your holy shit 35:37 - The moonhammer of Vax death 44:14 - Matt has given up 51:20 - Vex sees through reality (starts at 50:45) 1:08:17 - Protective sister 1:11:12 - Furries 1:12:02 - Owlbears 1:15:20 - A Meaningful Conversation 1:19:05 - Kima has forgotten what it's like to travel with Vox Machina 1:20:40 - The return of the roc 1:21:21 - Kash is always left in the dark 1:22:30 - Scanlan and Kashaw need to have a spinoff show 1:26:58 - Kashaw does not want to compete with Grog 1:33:31 - Vox Machina is a real family 1:42:20 - Break begins (Get Your Perv-On) 2:00:16 - Game Resumes 2:09:55 - Scanlan's just checking that Kash doesn't want to go with Vax 2:10:32 - Grog and Vax are practically brothers 2:13:37 - Testing the earrings 2:24:51 - "Kashaw, watch this." 2:26:20 - Two Tries Each 2:29:13 - "If it weren't for Vax..." 2:36:41 - The return of Vox Machina's greatest enemy 2:47:20 - Roll Initiative 2:58:48 - "Vax, did you see that?" 2:58:57 - Shit just got real (2:59:29 for the reaction) 3:06:00 - Scanlan inspires Zarha 3:17:56 - Kima update 3:23:10 - Scanlan rubs salt into the wound 3:37:30 - Scanlan Inspires Percy 3:38:40 - I Don't Speak Fish 3:45:00 - Matt's Opinion Regarding Their Saving Throws 4:01:08 - Fast ball special 4:05:26 - One Year Anniversary Limerick 4:09:44 - Matt frustrated by lack of fun eye lasers. 4:14:11 - Zahra kicks ass 4:19:11 - Grog can't have more than one direction at one time 4:21:55 - The underoos 4:23:30 - Vex dies 4:34:06 - Kash speaks the truth 4:34:17 - Scanlan really does care 4:43:18 - Zahra's gift to Vex 4:44:30 - Kashaw and Keyleth talk 4:49:48 - Kima guilt trips 4:51:34 - Kima and Keyleth are finally seeing eye to eye 4:51:59 - After game discussion

"You can move a little faster because you are 30 gold lighter." You have to love Scanlon.

I've watched a year's worth of Critical Role in 25 days. Damn.

LIam's acting was truly remarkable. But the pain in Laura's face when she realized Vex had died was truly heartbreaking. I think people underestimate how much creators put into our characters in any medium. Side note, Will was incredible as Kash. I wouldn't mind seeing that character more in his own stories.

Omg, everyone talking about the reactions to Vex's scene. Kills me that nobody calls out Travis. The look of complete concern for his wife knowing how hard this is going to tear her apart.

"We get two tries each, it'll be great." I love Taliesin.

By the way at 4:22:00 when scalan says "Did you pee your underoos" he did so because a reddit user i cant remember the name of told him saying that if he could say "underoos" during the night's session he would donnate 20$ to charity. You can see Scanlan wink at the reddit user after he said it.

Liam is the most immersive, believable, emotionally raw VA I have ever seen/heard. He makes me weep, he makes me laugh, and sometimes he is so gripping that I even forget to breathe. I really, truly respect him and his work.

I keep forgetting that Mary isn't British. Her Zahra accent is incredibly convincing

Perception check 71 You see through reality itself and you see you and your friends sitting in a table. All of you seem to be human oddly. And you are telling the story of what's going on in the world around you as if it were some sort of a game.

That dawning horror when Laura goes from "damn I'm unconscious, oh well" to seeing Matt's wordless look and slowly realizing what has actually happened was just terrible

I genuinely believe that this is the episode where Percy really realized what Vex means to him. It's not regret he feels when he triggers the trap, it's horror.

Matt’s home brew for resurrection spells is brutal. Taking a RAW spell and saying nope let’s play a mini game...

Trinket slams his claws into grogs hands. Grog: Trinket! Help me! Trinket leaning in close: *growl* *roar* (long live the tank)

This episode is full of so many amazing moments, but for some reason my favourite part is when Vax fixes Vex’s braid after she stuck her head in the water. It’s little things like that that really make me believe they’re brother and sister.

Percy: I apologise for any of the mistakes I’m likely to make Me and Vax looking at what’s going to happen in roughly three hours: 😬

OMG. The conversation between Scanlan and Kashaw while they were on guard duty was comedic genius. 10/10.

God damn, I love Scanlan. If you pay attention during the big fight, you'll notice he chooses to support the team at every turn rather than heal himself, which very nearly gets him killed, like when they were fighting Rimefang. When you consider how Sam describes Scanlan as viewing life "without any real meaning" it really throws his actions into perspective, both when he's joking around with the team and when he's doing something incredibly dangerous on his own, like setting fire to that manor in Whitestone. If it makes for a good song, he doesn't care what happens to him. As a side note, Sam was challenged by a fan on Twitter to work the word "underoos" into the stream somehow, with the promise of a donation if he pulled it off. You'll notice he not only does it (4:22:14), but he winks seconds later. Sam's a real stand-up kinda guy.

“I was raised to believe in life, and when you’re married to death that’s pretty much all you have.” I love this line from Cash.

I didn’t tear up at Vex’s death, I teared up at Vax asking to be taken in her stead.

The look of absolute devastation on Taliesin’s face after almost killing Vex is endearing.

I love that in her first game when Mary got the HDYWTDT? against Rimefang she responded with this adorable, "I don't know what that means..." , but this time she did a full-on celebration/freakout with everyone else. She is so amazing.

Poor Liam. Whenever he starts to do his sneak attack stuff and adding multipliers there's always a misunderstanding somewhere. Thankfully he's really good natured about it and Matt has the patience of a saint.

Show of hands: who else is checking in after finishing TLOVM Season 2, Episode 3?

The fact that Percival Fredrikstein Kowwolski DeRolo III in canon rhymes in his sleep(1:25:09), is the single funniest thing about his character.

Will is SUCH a good actor. I remember when he first showed up I genuinely thought he didn't like the group or something.

that night before going into it i love the different tones of the watches. 1st watch: Wondrous watching of nature and owl bears 2nd watch: Very soul searching reassurances between two dudes and seeing a majestic Roc 3rd watch: a very stupid, goofy conversation between 2 straight guys about how attractive the bi guy is

Mary comforting Laura is so sweet. That was a fucking emotional ride, y'all.

Can we all just take a moment to point out that Mary has two HDYWTDT's so far and they are on a freaking Adult Dragon and a freakin Beholder. One of those things is the greatest battle in even experienced adventures lives that they tell tales of their whole life, Zahara is over here like yeah thats just a normal Thursday for me. Absolute legend.

51:29 "You see through reality" You see a bunch of nerds sitting at a table rolling dice.

Taliesin's face after The Thing happens is heartbreaking. He looks like he's about to cry.

Helping Vex with her braids id the cutest brother/sister thing that Vax did so far. It’s a good RP moment since that must have been like when they grew up together.

I heard "legendary action eye rays" at some point as "legendary eye raise" and just pictured the beholder giving the group the "mom look" 😅

Bold of them to assume we need Matt's recap every episode as if we haven't all been binge watching.

It's pretty funny how Kima was present for both Beholder fights and still has yet to truly fight one

You know, of all the incredible things he does in this campaign alone, Matt's absolute unyielding poker face in dire emotional situations is one of the most amazing things about him.

Okay, so obviously, I’m a bit late here, but I just had to say that I absolutely LOVE Vax’s and Percy’s talk during their watch because it’s literally one of “the night talks” that one could have with their friend. Just a deep, honest talk in the middle of the night. It’s just so truthful and so believable and it’s soooo beautiful to me that their friendship is so deep and realistic. Their talent is unbelievable!

Liam's face when he's either angry/upset is absolutely terrifying

One guest delivers the final blow and the other guest revives an ally... fucking epic guests!!

Been re-watching Campaign 1 as its been SOOOO long. All I could think when Percy said "I think we're very broken people." Was Liam thinking, "Just you wait til Campaign 2, this ain't broken."

“I’m gonna attempt to use my Wand of Fire-” *notices the radius on Fireball* “-oh no, no, that’s a bad idea.”

The palpable dread i felt when at 2:36:42 matt said "...set of doors." their arch(ed) nemesis.

It's terrifying and wonderful how a single mistake drastically changed the direction of Vax and Percy's characters, their relationship, and almost ended Vex's life or potentially Vax's if the Raven Queen had taken him up on his original offer. This was the point where I think a lot of the players started seriously thinking about the potential consequences of their actions.

I love that Taliesin has different hair in almost every episode. Dont know why it makes me so happy... but it does.

Who would've known years ago that Purvan's real voice is 2022 Batman by Brennan Lee Mulligan, but here we are

"I'll use my aberration bane sword. I never use it." *Matt Mercer bites his lip trying to not laugh*

Revivify is one of those spells every cleric should have prepared but hope they never have to use.

19:50 Grog: "I wanna insight check Kima!" Me: Welp, here we go again Party argues about Kima's true motives Matt as Kima: "I've missed all of you" 😁

Even though you get used to it very quickly, it's amazing how Matt dedicates himself to every little detail of the game. It's never "You hit the fishmonster with your lightning arrow, 16 dmg", it's "With a blue BOLT of lightning *FSSHH* your arrow SLAMS into the snarling beast *BUDOW!* who with eyes full of VENGEANCE screams *EVIL UNDERDARK GOBBLEDYGOOK* at you"

I love Zahra and Kashaw, they complement the group of Vox Machina so perfectly. I wish Mary and Will would be part of the standard group!

Holy wow Talison's reaction he barely said a word after that that happened with Vex! He can't stop apologizing either! Oh my heart!

Sam is so good holy shit, during that conversation with kash he made everybody laugh, but he snuck in actually good advice he could take, rather than having the serious conversation about telling Keyleth his feeling he did it in the the context of Vax to be funny but he told him to give his feelings even if he doesn't think they will be returned, which applies in the Keyleth situation aswell. clever fucker.

I believe he was going through a lot at this point so I don't know how much was acting and how much was his actual situation but DAMN my heart was breaking for Liam at the end of that.

I just have to say, Percy is such an amazing character. He's so subtle, have always had my eye on him, but after the Briarwood arc, he's become that much more amazing. I used to adore Vax - i still do - but Percy has sneaked up on me, and laid his gentle hands on my heart with his quiet, nerdy nature and intellectal wit with his badass moments. Talisen, you are truly a master of character creation. Both Percy AND Molly are such intriguing characters that i simply can't get enough of.

Hmm if you're a dead cleric and your party takes you to the temple of your diety do you get an employee discount on the fees to be ressurected?

That "You fucking died" was so perfect man...

You know what might have been a good idea? Stopping by the Raven Queen's temple in Vasselheim and requesting her permission to retrieve her artifact before just plundering the tomb.

Matt’s face when he realizes that a fast ball special was happening in the game... pure joy

I just burned through a Critter year in a month. This is going to be hell when I have to play "Is it Thursday yet?"....

Rewatching and hearing Percy's throw away "I hope this is the worst decision we make because it's all up hill from there" acts as glorious foreshadowing

Man, I remember when my party had an insta-death moment like this. One of our two Rangers (I was the other) touched the Wand of Orcus, and it shattered her mind. Our cleric wanted to use Revivify, but we were within a huge anti-magic field and surrounded by zombies, so our DM gave us a skill challenge. Somehow, we all made it out of the city, largely unscathed, in 36 seconds, and managed to bring her back. Some of the most intense DnD I've ever played.

I highly recommend that you watch the episode before coming to the comments, because of SPOILERS!

"i go to stealth" "roll for perception" "27" "2" i died lol

Lol just a vex was investigating for traps, Percy goes and reaches. He could of waited literally 3 seconds.

I'm really glad they brought Mary and Will back. They fit in so well with the main group. It kinda feels like a bit of a missed opportunity that they didn't try and make one or both of them full-time cast members to replace Orion. The episodes they're in are some of the most fun.

It seems Kima has quite the unlucky streak from what I've seen so far in the series. I mean, she had her adventuring party killed in the Underdark, she was captured and tortured by Duregar for quite a while before the party found her, she was petrified by a Basilisk, petrified again by one of K'varn's eye beams, and now thrown into a pit by another beholder before even getting a chance to do anything.

I need an entire show of Vax and Percy conversations followed by Scanlan Kashaw conversations. Just hours of it, please

Vax, when confronted about literally anything: *I walk out* a mood

Kash still has one of the greatest back stories of all, 6 years later. Still wish Vesh was a bigger player in Critical role. Sounds interesting

It’s honestly so unfair that Mary and Will can’t stay forever. Cause they should have stayed forever as permanent members.

"Doors. We should just leave"

As horrifying as the end of this episode was, I really hope it gets animated in vox machina season 2 and I really want will and Mary to reprise their roles. Such a tense moment that would be awesome animated.

The emotional whiplash of this episode is just great. I'm so glad to have found this show. Here. 8 years after it started 😅

Grog/Travis is a damn gift to mankind...

Grogs reaction to the twins stuck in the mud is priceless!

"It's legendary action eyerol.. eyebeam." The eye roll is your legendary action Matt, not the beholder's.

Raise your hand if you’re here after that episode 3 cliffhanger 🙋🏾‍♀️😭

I know we are all shaken up by Vex but I must address how awesome Scanlan was in this! That interaction with Kashaw, that burn on Vex, that Limerick, that tag team with Grog. He was awesome this episode! On a side note, I love the face Matt gives when he rolled for the damages when the trap sprung. You can tell from his face he was like "oh crap they are not going to like this..."